Hello Everyone.... Just a quick note to say we are going to be 'signing off' for awhile. Unfortunately, our son is very sick again. We are going to focus on getting him healthy again.

 

Thanks to everyone who left us comments and encouragement! We have truly enjoyed being a part of this community. We wish you all continued success on your weight loss journey! We can't wait to see the finale!

 

Take care everyone!

Cheryl and Rob

Hi Everyone!

It's been a while since I've written anything. Life really stopped in order to get our little one back to health. We are still working on a complete recovery... but we are finally heading in the right direction! Unfortunately I let the situation get the better of me and haven't eaten very well. I am still off sugar - which has been hard... but I'm taking that one day at a time. But I found it interesting that while we were in the middle of the hospital stuff I ate better than when I got home. I think it all just finally hit me (the emotions of being scared and fearful for our little one, to the lack of any sleep for 5 days). I can tell I've gained because my feet have started hurting again in the mornings. When I lost those initial pounds it was amazing to have the pain dissappear. So... Now that I have focused on the family getting healthy - now I need to return to doing the same for myself! I am going to get back on track with working out and writing down my calories. I have gotten a great deal of inspiration just going around to everyone's sites. It is just awesome to see what people can do when they put their minds and determination behind something!!! Take care everyone and best wishes for continued success!!!

 

This week has been tough personally. Our 10 month old was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night and we hope to see him home today. I weighed in at 216. Cheryl will have to weigh in when she gets home. Having our son sick changed my perspectivne on things. There is nothing more important than my kids, and I need to do all the things I can to protect them, and give them everything I can. Losing weight and being heathly is really important so we can not only be here, but to be here STRONG, set a good example, and make each day a good day, without excuses.

Its been awhile since I've checked in. Its been tough keeping on. With grad school and work, the easy path is to ignore what I'm doing and what this is all about. The reasons and the wieght don't go away though. Cheryl has been my inspiration. She reminds me that we have so much to fight for..... I really appreciate this site and all of the resources, I would have been gone by now (like so many times before) without it. What a trip that Cheryl was shown in line for a BL promotional ad last night!!!!!

What a crazy thing!!! Rob and I sat down to watch the BL show (after he got back from class tonight). And he started zipping through the first part of the show (the MSN Update)... I told him to go back, I think I saw myself. He skipped back a few times... AND THERE I WAS!!! Granted, it was only for a brief second... It was when I was standing in line for the open casting call in San Jose, Ca. They showed a shot of the line.. and I was the last one, waving at the camera, in the purple shirt! What a cool thing to see yourself on TV! And honestly, it was the exact boost I needed after such an emotional day. I know it seems odd to get so upset over 2 pounds... But it wasn't the pounds gained that really bothered me... It was letting my old habits come back and not stopping myself from doing the same things that got me 80 pounds overweight. Seeing myself tonight, in that line for the open casting call, reminded me of all the feelings I had that day. On one hand it was helpful to see that I wasn't alone in my struggle in losing weight. I met amazing people that day with their own set of difficulties and challenges in losing weight. On the other hand... It was very hard to see so many people desperate for help... In such need for an intervention in their lives in order to save them from a life of obesity. It really impacted me, to the point of joining this challenge and making a commitment to it. Something I had forgotten over this past weekend. I am grateful to have had that inspiration. I am going to pick myself up off the ground... stop feeling like a victim and get myself back on track (okay... I'll sleep first!). This show means so much to so many people. This challenge has been such a blessing in our lives - by giving us the opportunity to get our lives back. I am excited to take another positive step towards that! I have too much to look forward to, to let myself go back to my old ways. I want to conquer this SO BADLY. I want to do this for myself so I can help others re-gain their lives back. Life is too short not to. After losing my friend to cancer... I am reminded of that daily. So..... Now is the time! WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!

SuperBowl Sunday... In the past my family has gone to a neighbor's house, spent the afternoon eating snacks galore... then to finish the day with a full dinner at their house. Well, after moving from the area, we no longer participate in that tradition and have created another. Staying home and pigging out in the name of football. Granted, I'm an ice hockey fan myself... But I find that I am really good at using any excuse (holidays, major sporting events, weekends, etc.) to feed my eating addiction. Well, we hadn't really planned to do anything (first mistake)... and then got caught up in errands that after eating breakfast at 9ish (bowl of cereal and milk), we didn't eat until 3 (BIG mistake). Needless to say, we ended up at the store buying things without considering calories or what we SHOULD be eating... Just what we WANTED to eat. And without eating sugar we notice that we tend to overdo it on the carbs... Especially the wrong kind (chips, crackers, bread). SO today's "low" would be the fact that we didn't spread out our meals, and we overate - not watching our calorie intake. The 'High' of the day would be the fact that after eating too much this afternoon... I didn't just leave it there (like I normally would)... and instead I let the kids play in our room while I exercised on the elliptical machine! I burned 628 calories... making a dent in the damage I did today. I have been really feeling great with the sugar out of my system and with doing my exercise and eating better - and I don't want to lose the work I've done. The funny thing today... I enjoyed what we ate, but found myself not wanting it as much. Guess it is starting to work! Anyway... Looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow! Take care and have a great week everyone!!!

 

Rob is in school tonight, which makes it a bit hard with two little ones and two dogs... all needing attention, love and dinner! I have to say I'm thrilled ... my 4 year old asked for green beans tonight! Woo Hoo!!! It is great to see that she loves veggies... broccoli, green beans, peas and even spinach!! And I want to keep it that way! I notice that her friends are always eating greasy, fried foods whenever we get together... and I want to reinforce her good habits by eating the same foods (I have a hard time with veggies unfortunately). So... I'm going to sign off in order to go exercise! Thanks again to everyone who visits our site... have a great Friday!!! 

Well...Here it goes. I haven't written in several days mainly because of dissapointment. After doing so well, and writing such strong words about how I was going to bounce back after the birthday weekend... I fell off the band wagon and stayed off for longer than I ever should have. This has been a repeat of so many attempts to lose weight. I do well for about a week... then open that door to bad habitual behaviors again. I went right back to my comfort food... carbs/sweets. And the whole time I was beating myself up asking... Why are you doing this??? Why after 14 pounds lost... Why after the hard work you've put in? I need to find what is going to get me back on track nutritionally and be successful at losing weight for the LONG TERM. We finally had a chance to watch Tuesday's show on Thursday, and I thought it was amazing the timing of the discussions between the pink team and Jillian about getting down to the bottom of why you are overweight. I have never really done that. And I see that until I do... I am going to continue to sabatoge myself, going up and down in weight. I just don't want to do that to myself, to Rob or to my kids. I don't want them to have weight issues and look to me and ask, why didn't you do something! I have been overweight since I was a kid. I wasn't popular in elementary school (far from it... I was the kid everyone picked on at school). I started eating to comfort myself from the teasing, the harrassment, and pain. All of it did some major damage to my self-esteem. I felt alone. I had to fight to save myself from completely feeling worthless. I remember coming home daily and just crying about how mean people were to me. I didn’t break away from my negative reputation until I went away to college and escaped from all the people I knew in my home town. But even then, I found it hard to meet people because of my weight (I started college at 196 pounds). My biggest accomplishment was joining the crew team and losing weight (We worked out about 3 hours a day). My lowest was 165. And while I was able to finally feel what it was like to be thin and healthy… Just 10 -12 years later, I’m right back to my overweight self. Rob has tried to help me get past my weight issues, telling me that all that stuff happened a long time ago. I'm the only one holding on to it. But when things get tough or when I feel anxious or alone (taking care of the kids all day then at night as well when Rob is at graduate school), I look to comfort myself by...EATING. So while I can let go of the pain that happened in elementry school, I haven’t let go of the habitual patterns I learned in order to cope (eating to dull the emotions I feel). Eating is my security blanket that has kept me from learning how to deal with life in a healthy way. I have to admit, I’m scared to actually feel emotions instead of just stuffing them away. But I am going to learn! As Rob has told me, I need to look at the truth in every situation. ‘Why am I eating? Am I eating because I’m feeling scared about being by myself? Am I feeling stressed?’ I need to replace eating, by asking, “What can I do instead?” Get out of the kitchen. Go for a walk. Play a game. Call someone. I need to plan my food ahead so I don’t have the opportunity to go searching for things. I have to let go of the things I learned and re-build a new way of dealing with emotions. While I fell of the bandwagon in eating, I didn’t let the exercise go. I’ve been burning 500 – 600 calories a day (my goal is to do 500 each day). Now it’s time to get both exercise and nutrition working together! What a challenge losing weight is!

6 pounds lost in 1 week! Its always good to get off to a big start. Here at day 10, it is so important to keep believing. I read the daily msn pages and they are truly inspiring! Finally, a program that helps keep the intensity up where it belongs! Thanks BL!